Israeli singer Netta Barzilai's victory at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Israel's public television channel Kan has agreed to change the lyrics of the main song nominated for the Eurovision Song Contest, the music competition organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The song is called “October Rain”, in Italian “October Rain”, and was rejected last week by the EBU for violating the Eurovision Song Contest's political neutrality rules: the lyrics actually allude to the war against the Islamist organization Hamas Gaza, and the same title would refer to October 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians.
“October Rain” is almost entirely in English, like most of the songs competing in the Eurovision Song Contest, with the exception of a few verses in Hebrew. Initially, Kan said the text would not be changed, but then Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on the broadcaster to make the “necessary changes” so that Israel could compete and “raise its voice” in the international context. On Sunday, Kan released a statement in which he said he had asked both the lyricists of “October Rain” and the lyricists of “Dance Forever,” the second song competing for Israel's Eurovision Song Contest, “to… Readjust text”.
The original lyrics of “October Rain” published on Kan’s website:
Writer of history
Stand by me
Look into my eyes and see
People walk away but never say goodbyeSomeone stole the moon tonight
Take my light
Everything is black and white
Who is the idiot who told you?
Boys don't cryHours and hours and flowers
Life is not a game for rewards
Why does time pass?
Every day I lose my mind
Hold on to this mysterious rideDancing in the storm
We have nothing to hide
take me Home
And leave the world behind you
And I promise you, never again
I'm still wet from the October rain
October rainLiving in a fantasy
ecstasy
Everything should be like that
We will perish but love will never dieHours and hours and flowers
Life is not a game for rewards
Why does time pass?
Every day I lose my mind
Hold on to this mysterious rideDancing in the storm
We have nothing to hide
take me Home
And leave the world behind you
And I promise you, never again
I'm still wet from the October rain
October rain
October rainלא נשאר אוויר לנשום
אין מקום
אין אותי מיום ליום
כולם ילדים טובים אחד אחד(There is no more air to breathe
There is no space
I'm gone day by day
Everyone is good, children, one by one)
Israel has taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest since 1973. Although it is not a European country, its public television station is part of the EBU due to the affinity of the radio and television markets: Israeli television broadcasts similar programs to European countries and vice versa. Over the years, Israel has won the competition four times, most recently in 2018. For this reason, as stipulated in the rules, the competition was held in Tel Aviv, Israel, the following year.
Israel must finally decide on the song with which it will take part in the Eurovision Song Contest next Sunday. In any case, 20-year-old singer Eden Golan will sing it. The competition takes place in May in Sweden, the country that won last year.
Israel's military actions against Hamas and the people of Gaza are also the reason why hundreds of musicians from some European countries participating in the Eurovision Song Contest have called for Israel's exclusion from the competition, as happened with Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. However, the EBU rejected this on the grounds that the situation was different.
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